The Princess and the Nerd
by Zexo87
Summary: The twins are back in town and after seeing how much Pacifica has grown, Dipper decides to ask her out on a date. Cover image by greatlucario.
1. Chapter 1

The Princess and the Nerd

Dipper and Mabel were on there way back to Gravity Falls after a whole school year of being away. A few things had changed since they'd been gone. For one thing, Dipper had gone through a growth spurt and was now a couple inches taller than Mabel. Who's the alpha twin now? As they came up to the bus stop, they were about to see just how much else had changed.

"Ah! It feels great to be back, doesn't it, D-bro?" said Mabel.

"Sure does. I can't wait to see how everybody's doing," Dipper agreed.

The bus came up to a halt and as the twins climbed off, they were met with the faces of all their friends. Soos, Melody, Wendy, Candy, Grenda and Pacifica had all been eagerly waiting for them. "Look out, Gravity Falls, 'cause the Mystery Twins are back in town!" Mabel shouted. She suddenly found herself being tackled by Candy and Grenda and lifted off the ground by Soos.

Dipper stepped off the bus and Wendy greeted him with a fist bump. "Wow, dude. You really shot up," she remarked. Dipper was now almost as tall as her.

"Yep. Got my growth spurt on this year," he bragged. Before he could react, Soos snuck up behind him and scooped him up in a tight bear hug. "Soos I… I can't breathe!"

The big guy put him down. "Sorry, dude. I'm just really happy to see you again. And I got a big surprise for you dudes." Just then, Melody nudged him in the side with her elbow. "But it's gonna have to wait until later."

Mabel gasped. "A surprise! Soos, I command you to tell me now! TELLMENOWTELLMENOWTELLMENOW!"

"Mabel, chill!" Dipper said, grabbing her by the shoulders. She took a couple of soothing breaths and he let her go.

"Guys! It's so great to see you again!" said a familiar voice from behind.

The twins turned around to face Pacifica. Mabel gave her a big hug that she gladly returned. When they let go, Mabel noticed that Pacifica had also gotten taller with age. "Aw man! How come everyone's growing except me?" she whined, giving an adorable pout. Pacifica laughed and turned her attention to Dipper. "Hey, Dipper."

"Hey, Pacifica."

"Wow, look at you. You really have grown up," she commented, taking note of his new features. "Is that a facial hair I see?" She pointed to a couple of tiny hairs on his chins.

"Yep. What can I say? I'm becoming a man."

She chuckled again at his faux cockiness. "Well you look… great."

"Thanks," he said. Then he started to take notice of her new features as well. There was definitely something different about her and he liked it. "You look, uh…. you look great, too."

"Thanks," Pacifica replied, pushing a loose hair behind her ear.

This little exchange did not go unnoticed by Mabel, who did her best to contain her rising giddiness. _"Well, well, well, Dipper. Looks like the pheromones are in bloom yet again,"_ she thought with a raised eyebrow.

Soos jumped in and broke the silence. "Say! You dudes must be starving after that long trip. How 'bout we grab some grub at the diner?"

"Provided Lazy Susan picks out all the actual grubs," Melody added.

Everybody agreed and they all headed towards the diner. The whole time, though, Dipper was unable to take his eyes off of Pacifica. She was just so alluring, he could hardly believe it. When she turned to look back at him, he tried hard not to look like he was staring. He practically made his whole body go stiff. Pacifica looked away and blushed with a small smile. Mabel watched the whole thing with giddy amusement.

* * *

After the diner, Soos and Melody took the twins back the Mystery Shack to unpack. Dipper felt a pang of nostalgia being back in their old bedroom, even though Soos had taken the liberty of replacing everything that reminded them of Bill Cipher. Even the window had been replaced with one that had a regular floral pattern.

"I really missed this room," Mabel said as she placed her suitcase on her old bed.

"Me too," Dipper agreed. "I love being back in town. It sure is great seeing everybody again."

"Yeah." Mabel's voice had turned a little smug. "And, hey, Pacifica's gotten a lot cuter. Don't you think? She's a real knockout."

"Yeah. WAIT! Uh, I mean…. I-I guess! I dunno. I… I hadn't really noticed."

"Oh, knock it off. You can't hide it from me. I saw you checking her out."

Dipper realized there was no sense in trying to deny it to his sister. "Okay, fine! I was staring. I don't know what happened. She just sort of… caught me by surprise and I couldn't stop looking at her. It's like I suddenly saw a whole new side of her that I never knew was there."

"Puberty in action! Ya gotta love it. Dipper, you should go ask her out."

"There is no way that's happening. She'd probably just laugh at me and slam the door in my face."

"No she wouldn't. She's nice now. Remember?"

"I know, but still. Pacifica comes from the richest, most powerful family in town. She's an heiress, Mabel. She could get any rich boy she wanted and she wouldn't even have to pay him. What kind of chance could I possibly have?"

Mabel grabbed her brother firmly by the shoulders. "Dipper! Don't you see what you're doing? You're putting Pacifica on a pedestal just like you did with Wendy. The more you worry about being rejected, the more you lose your chance to be accepted. Well I'm not letting make the same mistake twice. You are gonna grow a pair, march right over to Pacifica's house, knock on the front door and when she answers, what do you say?"

Dipper only stuttered, not a single coherent word coming from his mouth.

"I SAID WHAT YOU SAY?!" Mabel shouted.

"I-I s-s-say…. WILL YOU GO ON A DATE WITH ME?!"

"That's what I'm talking about! Now get your butt down to that mansion and let the sparks start flying!"

Dipper quickly brushed his hair, straightened his hat and power-walked down the stairs to the front door. When he opened it, however, his confidence suddenly flew south for the winter, as standing right in front of him was Pacifica Northwest herself, shocked to see him opening the door before she could knock. "PACIFICA!" he said louder than he should have before covering his mouth.

"Oh, uh… Hi D-Dipper. I was just, y'know, out for a jog and I…. thought I'd stop by to… y'know." She seemed almost as flustered as he was.

Dipper straightened up to try and reply. "Uhhh yeah, totally! Uh, as a matter of fact, I was just on my way to your place to, uh… y'know."

"Hehe. Eeyup," Pacifica responded.

Both kids turned away from each other and gave themselves some quick mental readjusting. Then they turned back to face each other squarely in the eyes.

"Dipper."

"Pacifica."

They each took a deep breath and, at the same time, said "Do you wanna go on a date with me?" It took them each a second to recover from the shock.

"I-I… I'd love to," Pacifica replied, her cheeks turning red as a stop sign.

"Dyy-uhhh… G-G-Great. Great! Awesome!" Dipper coughed as he tried to maintain whatever composure he had. "So does… tonight at seven work for you?"

"Totally! I know this great new restaurant in town we can go to."

"Cool, so I'll swing by and pick you up at seven."

"It's a date. See you tonight, Dipper."

"Yep. I will see you to-night."

Pacifica walked away and Dipper closed the door. She kept on walking until she was several feet from the porch and then stopped. "YES! Boo-yah!" She exclaimed, pumping her fist in victory. Aristocratic civilities be darned. This girl just got her first date.

On the other side, Dipper was suddenly tackled by his excited twin. "Dipper, you did it! I'm so proud of you!"

"I did it. I did it! I have a date!" He was beaming with pride, until it started to really sink in for him. "I have a date!" Pride turned into light-headedness as he felt his body shutting down. "Goodnight, world." And just like that, the boy was out cold.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that night, after regaining his consciousness, Dipper was on his way over to Northwest Manor all gussied up in a tuxedo that Mabel had helped him pick out. His hair was combed and sleek and he was chewing on a breath mint. He approached the giant wooden gate that sealed off the estate from the rest of the town. Just as he was about to knock, though, the gates suddenly began to open. Before they were completely open, he was grabbed by Pacifica wearing her favorite lake foam green dress, who quickly dragged him off to the side, out of range of the doors.

Before Dipper could speak, Pacifica shushed him. "I told my parents I was going out with my friends tonight," she whispered.

"Why would you do that?" Dipper asked.

"Duh. You know how they are. If they knew I was dating a 'commoner,' they'd totally cut me off or worse. I just have to keep them from finding out for a little…" She cut off her sentence when she noticed an odd smell. Soon, she realized it was coming from Mystery Boy. "Are you wearing cologne?"

"Oh, yeah. I thought it would help cover up the smell."

"The smell of what?"

"Fear. Anxiety. Body odor," he confessed. Then he noticed a rather sweet smell coming from her. "Are you wearing perfume?"

"Yeah. It's a mix of lavender, orange and blueberry. Limited edition. Do you like it?"

"It smells… delicious."

Both kids had a good laugh about that. "Which reminds me. I'm starving," Dipper admitted. "Shall we get going?"

"Absolutely," Pacifica agreed. With that, the two young teens were off for a night of enchantment.

* * *

Dipper and Pacifica arrived at Rockin' Raoul's, the brand new rock 'n roll themed restaurant. The line stretched all the way outside the door. "Aw man!" Dipper groaned. "Look at this line. It's gonna take us forever to get in." Pacifica didn't want him to be disappointed with their evening together, so she decided to use her greatest asset. Although, she wasn't sure how he'd feel about it.

Pacifica lead Dipper to the front of the line and greeted the maitre d', who welcomed them happily and showed them inside. It was a nice-looking place, decorated with posters and memorabilia from famous musicians, with classic rock pouring out of the speakers. The maitre d' lead them to a booth on the other end of the restaurant.

"Thank you, Simone." Pacifica flashed a hundred and handed it to the woman. "Here. Buy yourself something nice."

"Oh, thank you very much, Ms. Northwest. You are too generous," she groveled. "And may I say, you're date tonight looks especially strapping." She'd meant for that to be a whisper, but Dipper heard anyway. He was so flattered that he blushed. So did Pacifica. Simone finally left them alone and they were free to talk with each other.

"That was kinda cool," said Dipper.

"Well, when you're with me, you never have to wait in line," Pacifica bragged somewhat shyly. "Life's way too short for that. Don't you think?"

"Totally," Dipper agreed. "So what made you pick this place?"

"My parents and I came here when it first opened a couple of weeks ago. I recommend the Gumbohemian Rhapsody."

"Hehe. Sounds good. Though, I never would've pegged you as a rock 'n roll fan."

"It's sort of a secret hobby. My parents say that sort of music is below our family, but I've always secretly loved it. My mansion is so big that I can listen to it in my room and my parents have no idea. The only reason we came here before was because it was super exclusive for the grand opening and if something is exclusive, the Northwests have to be there. Normally, you'd need a reservation to get in, but when you come from the most powerful family in town, people have a pretty hard time saying no to you."

"Well, I guess there are some perks to having a rich date."

"Oh, you have no idea."

The young teens laughed until the waiter came and took their orders. They spent the rest of the evening talking, sharing stories and getting to know each other. Soon, any anxiety that either of them felt about tonight seemed to ebb away. Dipper was telling the story of the time he saved his Grunkle Ford from being taken away by an alien spaceship and Pacifica was eating it up.

"Wait, you're serious? You actually stood your ground against an alien robot with a giant laser cannon?"

"That's right. And I wasn't even scared. I stared that thing right in the eye and said 'Nothing in this universe is gonna take away my uncle!' And then my death stare made it so scared that it surrendered and shut itself down. And you know what I said then?"

"No. What?"

"I said… You should've phoned home when you had the chance, punk."

Pacifica burst out laughing. She wasn't sure she believed the whole story, but it sure was entertaining. "Oh man! You are such a dork, I love it! Say, you're not just making all this up to impress me, are you?"

"No, no. I swear it's all true. Ask my uncle and he'll tell you the same thing," he defended. "Why? Is it working?"

"Hmm… Yeah, kind of."

"Well, there you go."

Just then, another question occurred to Pacifica. "Hey, there's something else I've been wondering. You and Mabel are twins, but which one of you was born first?"

"Mabel was. She's five minutes older than me," Dipper explained.

"Oh, okay," she said before being hit with sudden regret. "You know, I never really got a chance to apologize for how I treated her. I mean, she totally would've won that Party Crown if I hadn't cheated… and made nonverbal threats."

"I wouldn't worry about it, Pacifica. Mabel's a pretty forgiving person."

"I never really wanted to be mean, you know. My parents always told me that we have to act as important as we are and _'make sure everybody else knows their place.'_ A Northwest never associates with commoners, never shows weakness, never makes mistakes and most importantly, never loses. They say we have to do whatever it takes to stay on top."

"That's terrible," Dipper exclaimed, disgusted, but not surprised. "You're a human being. Not a puppet."

"Everybody always treats me like a celebrity just because I'm rich. I just got so used to it that, eventually, I actually started to believe it. But even so, it never really felt right to walk all over everybody the way I did."

"Believe it or not, I know how you feel."

"What do you mean?"

"All my life, people have picked on me and called me a loser. I started to think they were right because nobody ever seemed to want to be my friend. I was terrible in social situations and it always seemed like there was something wrong with me."

The blonde felt her heart starting to break. "Oh Dipper."

"I don't think I would've gotten through it if it weren't for Mabel. She was always there to stand up for me and make me feel better. Life can be tough, but having someone by your side who cares about you helps make it easier."

Pacifica was on the verge of tears. "Well, I've never really had anybody who cared about me like that." She was about to cry when Dipper called her attention and gave her a warm smile.

"You do now," he assured, earning a smile from her in return.

* * *

Little did Dipper and Pacifica that somebody was on a mission to add a little extra spice to their date. Mabel snuck into the restaurant wearing a heavy coat, wig and false mustache. She made her way to the sound booth where the music was played from. Once inside, she snuck up behind the DJ and covered his face with a pair of Dipper's dirty underwear, knocking him unconscious. She ejected the CD from the drive and inserted a different one, smiling devilishly and tapping her fingers together.

"Get ready to feel the love, you two."

* * *

All of a sudden, the music on the speakers was replaced by something much different. Unlike the rock n roll that had been playing just a second ago, this music was calm and smooth. "That's weird. Why would they play this?" Dipper asked. "This doesn't sound like rock to me."

"I don't know," Pacifica admitted, "but… it's kind of nice, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess so. If you're into this kind of stuff."

Just then, the lyrics started up.

 _"Angel in disguise."_

 _Stories in his eyes._

 _Love for every true heart that it sees._

 _Was it just a lucky day_

 _That he turned and looked my way?_

 _Or is it heaven right before my very eyes?"_

"Hey Dipper. Do you wanna dance?" Pacifica asked, startling her date.

"Dance? Like, right now?"

"Yeah, dummy. Come on."

 _"He showed me all knew things._

 _The shimmer of moonbeams._

 _I was blind, but now he's helped me see._

 _I was lost, but now I'm found._

 _His happiness surrounds._

 _And now I find that my dreams can come true."_

"Well, uh, okay, but… I don't really dance so well."

"Don't worry. Just follow my lead." With that, Pacifica yanked Dipper out onto the dance floor. She positioned his left hand in her right and his right arm around her waste. She placed her hand on his shoulder and they began to waltz.

 _"Cause I'm gonna love you for the rest of my life._

 _I'm holding you safe here in this heart of mine._

 _I can't live without you 'cause my soul would die._

 _You know I'm telling the truth._

 _I'll spend the rest of my life loving you."_

"See? You're getting the hang of it already," Pacifica complimented the boy on his steps.

"I'm just following your directions," he retorted.

"Well you're very good at it."

"Thanks." He kept his eyes fixated on hers, captivated by how dazzling they were, and he realized something. "You know Pacifica, I know I should've said this earlier, but… you really do look beautiful in that dress."

The girl blushed. "Thanks Dipper. You look great in that tux, too."

"Thanks."

As the song went on, the two young lovers kept dancing together, completely lost in the moment. When it was over, they suddenly realized that the entire restaurant was watching them. Clearly, they must've looked adorable together as everybody was watching them with loving puppy dog eyes. Still, it was pretty rude of them to stare.

"Mind your own business or you're all getting sued," Pacifica proclaimed. Just like that, they all went back to their own business, leaving them in peace once again.

* * *

It was very late when Pacifica and Dipper returned to the Mystery Shack. They passed a couple of gnomes breaking into a snack machine on the way, but they sent them packing with a couple dozen bags of chips and candy bars. When they arrived, the shack was closed for the day.

"Thanks for coming out with me tonight, Dipper. I had a great time," Pacifica said.

"Yeah. Me too," said Dipper. "Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home? Like, isn't that what I'm supposed to do?"

"Not tonight. I don't want my parents to see us together."

"Why not. I mean, if we're gonna keep doing this, they're gonna find out eventually," he protested. "Wait. We are going to keep doing this, right?"

"Of course. I'd love to, but…" the blonde girl sighed. "Look, I'm just not ready to tell them yet, okay?"

Dipper conceded. "Alright. I guess I can respect that. But, at some point, we are gonna have to come clean."

"Yes! Absolutely. I promise." Then she waved him goodbye. "Good night, Dipper. Thanks again for a fun night. Don't forget to call me."

"Don't worry. I won't. Good night, Pacifica."

As Dipper watched her walk away, he admired how her hair flew gently in the light breeze realized that he too was very pleased with how the night had gone. He couldn't wait to tell Mabel and the others. Just as he opened the door, though, he heard Pacifica call his name and saw her running back toward him.

"Hey. I almost forgot to give you something," she said.

"What is it?" Before he knew it, she leaned in and give him a long kiss on the cheek. The sensation made his entire body heat up like a tea pot.

"That," Pacifica answered him. "See you later, Mystery Boy." She walked away again and that time, she was gone for good.

Once Pacifica was out of sight, Dipper was still standing on the porch petrified. Mabel came rushing out of the house to hug him. "Hey! There's my ladies' man. How'd your date go?"

It took him a second to respond. "She… she kissed me," he said under his breath. "Mabel, she kissed me!"

Mabel's eyes went wide and she gasped. "Dipper, that's incredible!"

"I know! I finally got my first kiss!"

"Well, unless you count Merman-"

"I DO NOT COUNT MERMANDO!"

The twins headed inside and closed the door. "Ha ha! This is so amazing!" Dipper shouted. "I-I feel… I feel… I don't feel so good." The kid suddenly felt like he was going to pass out again. Mabel rushed to help him, but he told her he was good.

"I'm so happy for you, bro. My brother's got a girlfriend!" she exclaimed.

Yes. Yes he did.


End file.
